Uncompromising vision The paintings of David Milne (1882-1953) DAVID MILNE at the Van- couver Art Gallery, 750 Hornby St. Mon-Sat: 10-5. Closed Tues. Thurs: 5-9, Sun: 12-5. F YOU want to know what really makes an ar- tist tick, you have to see a body of his or her work. Only then can you pick out the visual patterns and identify ele- ments of the pictorial language that heip you to decipher individ. ual pieces. This is why the current exhibition of the work of David Milne (1882-1953) at the VAG is worth seeing. Born in rural Ontario, >AiJne achieved some success as a young artist living in New York in 1913. He also served as a war painter in the Canadian army in the First World War, and then, inspired by Thoreau’s example, built a cabin 44 Milne’s art is Not so much a window opening onto nature as a mirror reflecting himself. 99 ona small mountain at Boston Corners, New York State. There he began to paint the landscape and to develop the “scratched on,” skeletal style far which he later became famous. One of Milne’s favorite motifs is trees-reflected-on-a-lake. The key factor in all of the many examples in this show is discipline, the ‘discipline of the painter in the ex- ercise of his art. Archie Graham ART REVIEW This has little to do with render- ing the scene before him in accu- rate representation. it has more to do with the mind’s ability to focus on a chosen task. Milne’s art is not so much a window opening onito nature as a mirror reflecting himself, What Bishop’s Pond, for exam- ple, and Outlet of the Pond, reflect, is a subdued and thoughtful, sombre and melan- cholic man who seems to be caught by the allure of an in- scrutable stillness. Nothing moves in these paint- ings, but their lack of motion is both magnetic and compelling. The VAG exhibition tends to emphasize Milne’s technique, and presents his work in such a way as to recognize the fairly radical changes that developed in the ar- tist’s work over time. Thus we see in his earlier land- scapes the concern with precise and decisive control of form, stable compositions, pattern, and the linear dry-point application of subdued color. We can observe, in contrast, how the later works are awash with apparently spontaneous, sen- suous, swirling banks of blue and black, peppered by vivid splashes of green, red and orange. But this concern with the technical is a pointless exercise untess we clue in to the significance of Miine’s technical achievements. The artist presses his techniques as far as they will go, not in order to develop the perfect likeness of a natural scene, but to deepen and refine that dimension of life which transforms survival into wor- thwhile existence. | Live Crab cocked “Art is love,” he says in his autobiography, “but not the love of man or child, or love of woman, not love of nature or love of coun- try or mankind. It is just love, love without an object, the spilling of the oil of love.’ More interested in pattern than Cezanne and less interested in color than Matisse, Milne does not attempt to make any dramatic statements or grand gestures. He is an unpretentious painter with the journeyman’s concern for the technical integrity necessary to get the job done. The job in his case is painting, and his works are neither overbearing spectacles nor trifling, pretty-pictures. They are the plain- tive utterances of a man seriously trying to live his life without com- promising the qualities that make it all worthwhile. Ee | en fie A Delicious Dinner Value Any Way You Slice It with § 99 a cf oa - Black 4 For a limited time you can treat yourself, a friend or the Bean whole family to our famous roast beef dinner in the Bay Sauce Restaurant-Cafeteria. Each dinner includes potatoes, vegetable ees and yorkshire pudding. Choice of two delicious cuts. February * Di m S m $449 Available until February 8th only SALE PRICE Special | U ea. * Saturdays for month of February on 10 items . . Gw. tor, Christmas Parties .., aa sf . Seating up to 250. Discount” if booked city : . Now’ open 7 days." ao week , os regular cut extra cut ield.Ave.. North Vancouver., / , 9833888 nical : mie VISIT OUR CAPILANO BUFFET: PARK: Coupons or other discounts not applicable.